[Correspondence] Is crowdfunding a viable source of clinical trial research funding?

August 1, 2015

The Lancet 386, 9991 (2015)

Author: Abhinav Sharma, James Khan, Phillip J Devereaux

As public research grants for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have diminished and become increasingly competitive, researchers have to search for alternative funding sources. Crowdfunding, in which projects are funded directly from the public through the internet, might represent a potential source of RCT funding.1 However, whether or not crowdfunding campaigns for clinical RCTs are successful is unclear.